Souben shows the way

Tour Voile winner claims the Farr 30 prize at SPI Ouest

Great weather - beautiful sea… so it was for the 32nd Spi Ouest-France Bouygues Telecom. For the final day today, the 430 crews had a SSW wind of around 12 knots. Two races were held with the prize giving at 16:30 in the village. Quickly forgotten were the big conditions of Friday and Saturday.

Generally the regatta was thought to have gone well with 40,000 people descending on La Trinte-sur-Mer for the regatta. Jean-Pierre Blavec, President of the Societe Nautique de La Trinite praised his team including the many volunteers that involved 27 boats out on the water to run the seven to nine races per class. “I am very optimistic for the years to come. Spi Ouest has a beautiful future ahead.”

The only downside was how occupied the jury was. “We had 96 protested over the three days of racing,” said Gilles Vavasseur, President of the Jury.. “There was far too much contact between boats and serious damage. More responsibility needs to be taken by the competitors. However we were well organised here with 13 judges and a secretary of the jury and the deliberations finished at the latest each day by 22:00.”

Among the competitors, Daniel Souben sailed a superb series in the Farr 30 class with his Courrier Dunkerque crew, winners of the 2009 Tour de France a la Voile, to win by nine points. “Essential for me is our level of preparation,” explained Souben. “The boat is in good shape, the crew is fine and we plan to take on the remainder of the season in confidence.” Deneen Demourkas and her Groovederci crew came home 14th.

IRC1 saw the immaculate Gery Trentesaux’s First 40 Courrier Zen claim honours ahead of the Grand Soleil 44 Spineck.

In the Open 7.50 it was Nicolas Groleau on Vecteur Plus that showed the way, scoring six bullets in nine races ahead of some strong competition such as Transat Jacques Vabre winner Marc Guillemot on Safran and Route du Rhum winner Lionel Lemonchois (recently returned from his lap of the planet on Groupama 3) aboard Prince de Bretagne.

Meanwhile in the Class 6.5 it was none other than former Vendee Globe winner Alain Gautier who dominated aboard his Mackelsensation ahead of young Mini sailor Sebastien Rogues.

Full results here